What the fuck is her actual problem?

Have you ever dealt with a person who always takes exception to what you have to say, no matter what it is?

I mean, even when you agree with her, she bitches at you because you don’t agree with her enough. Or you don’t use her language to agree with her.

And if you don’t talk to her, she bitches at you for what you say to other people–people who are adults, intelligent and articulate enough themselves, mind you, to ream you a new one if they thought you deserved it, or if they felt you were attacking them.

Yet this person, who has no dog in a fight that isn’t even taking place, comes at you loaded for bear, demanding (basically) that you shut up.

But, lest you think it’s lil ole innocent me (fragile flower of femininity that I am *adjusts halo again*) who is the problem, I have seen this same person do the exact same thing to…well, everyone else she comes in contact. It may take her a day or a few months, but no one who is present where she is escapes her constant harping.

Anyone wanna venture a guess, why does she do this?

(And bonus brownie points to whoever guesses who I’m talking about)

Oh no, she didn’t! (sadly, yes, she did)

And for those of you tired of the plagiarism conversation, go somewhere else and look at some puppies and rainbows.

It seems that the latest version of the thief’s apology reads thus:

“When I first received the allegations of plagiarism, I was presented with the information and could not deny the facts. While the content was not identical the subject matter was. I thought only content could be plagiarized. Changing a few a words around with a thesaurus, or simple copying and pasting content. It seems as though taking a general topic and rewriting it is plagiarism. That is simply my own ignorance on the matter, and I should have known better. It was a confusion of inspiration and plagiarism on my part. I am not denying my actions. I was in the wrong. I read a post, I thought it was interesting and wanted to make it into something that would be relevant for book blogging.”

I guess it was just a matter of time for her to claim ignorance

Why does anyone care…

…whether a plagiarist apologizes or not?

Yesterday I read one of the latest cases where a plagiarist is caught, confronted and shamed (with the inevitable “leave the poor plagiarist alone, she’s suffering enough as it is” comments thrown in).

What baffles me is the repeated expectations for an apology.

Why?

What does an apology change?

Look, not all crimes¹ are equal, and I’m not going to call for pitchforks here, but plagiarism–and particularly repeated plagiarism–is not an accidental thing, there is intent. A person cannot inadvertently copy and paste chunks of other people’s work and then forget it’s not his/her own work.

Given this, what is the value of an apology? How can any apology over a deliberate act be anything but, “sorry I got caught”–which is no apology at all?

So, why does anyone care to receive an apology from a plagiarist?

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¹ Plagiarism = theft, ergo, crime